The trailer for the new game heavily features a digitized Kevin Spacey, doing his best Frank Underwood impression as he goes on a diatribe about the futility of the US trying to spread democracy to countries that don't have the basic infrastructure or cultural norms in place to support it. An earlier promotional video for the game, made in conjunction with Vice magazine, highlights the narrative's focus on private military corporations and their outsized role in modern conflict. As an Amazon product description for the game puts it, "In this carefully researched and crafted vision of the future, Private Military Corporations (PMCs) have become the dominant armed forces for countless nations outsourcing their military needs, redrawing borders and rewriting the rules of war."

We can't be the only ones getting a distinct feeling that this is Modern Warfareby way of Metal Gear Solid, and the brief shots of exoskeleton super-suits, cloaking technology, and a whole mess of unmanned drones patrolling the landscape don't do much to diminish that feeling (the hoverbikes are a nice addition, though). The Amazon description for the game also highlights "enhanced player movement and verticality through boost jumps and grappling" in what could be seen as a nod to the success of Respawn's recent launch of Titanfall. Amazon also makes mention of optional "directed-energy weaponry" in addition to normal ammunition.

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

Seems interesting and while I'm not into the COD games, they're worth a run through or so I guess. Hope there's a PC demo/beta I can try out. Trailer makes it sound like it might have a decent single player plot.

Ok this is the second game article today that touts the use of some movie/TV personality as a selling point for the game.

Note to game companies - I don't give a flying rat's @@# #%%@ what actor/actress you paid way too much money to read off lines in cutscenes I will generally just click through. It's completely orthogonal to gameplay, you know the part of the game that actually matters, and seems like a disturbing throwback to the early CD game days with "FMV" being the big buzzword to make crappy games no one remembers now.

Spend the money on the parts of the game that matter, devs and testers - especially the testing, each bug you don't ship is practically guaranteed to boost your precious metacritic score.

Note to game companies - I don't give a flying rat's @@# #%%@ what actor/actress you paid way too much money to read off lines in cutscenes I will generally just click through. It's completely orthogonal to gameplay, you know the part of the game that actually matters, and seems like a disturbing throwback to the early CD game days with "FMV" being the big buzzword to make crappy games no one remembers now.

1) I remember most cut-scenes (or bits of them) from games where I don't 'click-through.' Story-line is a thing.2) There's a difference between hiring Paris Hilton to do a cameo, and a legitimate actor that's generally well-respected for his breadth and depth, such as Kevin Spacey. Sure, K-PAX was a miss, but he made up for it several times over.

Note to game companies - I don't give a flying rat's @@# #%%@ what actor/actress you paid way too much money to read off lines in cutscenes I will generally just click through. It's completely orthogonal to gameplay, you know the part of the game that actually matters, and seems like a disturbing throwback to the early CD game days with "FMV" being the big buzzword to make crappy games no one remembers now.

1) I remember most cut-scenes (or bits of them) from games where I don't 'click-through.' Story-line is a thing.2) There's a difference between hiring Paris Hilton to do a cameo, and a legitimate actor that's generally well-respected for his breadth and depth, such as Kevin Spacey. Sure, K-PAX was a miss, but he made up for it several times over.

I really wish reveal trailers showed more gameplay. Parts of it looked cool but then I realized that I likely won't be *free* to jump around on cars and punch them to bits the same way the trailer shows.

I haven't been a console player since PS 2 (I still use it today, {PC games for me). This youtube video did make me think about getting back to the console rat race though. I wonder if the game will live up to the hype. Only time will tell...

"In this carefully researched and crafted vision of the future, Private Military Corporations (PMCs) have become the dominant armed forces for countless nations outsourcing their military needs, redrawing borders and rewriting the rules of war."

Upon reading this I was readu to post "so, they played Metal Gear Solid 4?"... but then the article beat me to it!

It's honestly impressive that not only did they ask to have Kevin Spacey in it but he also agreed. His presence will lend some actual depth to what has traditionally been a thin veneer of storyline or emotion over the gameplay, in CoD titles.

That said, this is basically gaming coming full circle. Crysis 2/3 copied CoD. Now CoD is copying Crysis. Except, hopefully, without the alien angle. I'd say it's more like Crysis than MGS4, but it certainly has set pieces from or inspired by both titles.

Unfortunately, I doubt this will do anything to lift CoD up out of its self-imposed status. Really popular with a specific subset of game players. Totally meaningless to everyone else.

Side note: That was one of the most detailed "face maps" of a real person I've seen in a video game...pretty much ever.

I've never played a CoD game before (just by happenstance, no afflictions one way or another). Not going to lie, the trailer made me want to try this one.

Resist the urge. It'll be $50-60 down the drain. The COD/BO series hasn't been good for a very long time. Ghosts was a total POS. I get that SP versions of predominately MP games aren't a priority for the devs, but the MP game was - ironically - a ghost town (on PC) just 2 to 3 weeks after release. I fired it up recently and it sat for 30 minutes without finding a game to join.

Ok this is the second game article today that touts the use of some movie/TV personality as a selling point for the game.

Note to game companies - I don't give a flying rat's @@# #%%@ what actor/actress you paid way too much money to read off lines in cutscenes I will generally just click through. It's completely orthogonal to gameplay, you know the part of the game that actually matters, and seems like a disturbing throwback to the early CD game days with "FMV" being the big buzzword to make crappy games no one remembers now.

Spend the money on the parts of the game that matter, devs and testers - especially the testing, each bug you don't ship is practically guaranteed to boost your precious metacritic score.

I just replayed some of Red Dead Redemption and *for me* it made me realize how much story and acting matters in AAA video games. I'm all for game play quality in most games, but I'm realizing that *for me* I do care about voice acting, plot line, character development and the underlying message of the story in the big name games. These titles (unlike normal video games) are like "playing a movie" and I like that. So I'm excited to see Kevin Spacey in this title, and hopefully they won't waste him as a narrator but really have him do something substantial in terms of his performance and role.

The Spacey monologue was interesting. I was briefly hopeful that we might see a CoD game that doesn't act as little more than unbridled propaganda for the US Military-Industrial complex. Then we get the twist at the end that Spacey is the bad guy, so of course everything he's saying is wrong. Maybe next time, I guess.

I always love these villains ranting about how people's disinterest in democracy is a cry for them to be controlled instead. (by the villain)

But of course the implication being that people really really do want democracy because yay democracy all the villains hate that!

Apparently nobody in fiction land thinks that rather then democracy vs 'security' people simply want prosperity above all and leaders that will give it to them while not interfering with their personal lives more then nessecary? And that how those leaders are selected isn't unimportant, but kinda besides the point.

Hopefully Activision will be able to "futurize" warfare better than Ghost Recon Future Soldier was able to do. But I'm not too keen on adding "verticality" to the game, it feels way too "me too" since it's right on the heels of Titanfall. I'd love for the ability to climb over and onto obstacles or buildings to give yourself a height advantage or to find cover, but I don't want to see jetpacks.

I've never played a CoD game before (just by happenstance, no afflictions one way or another). Not going to lie, the trailer made me want to try this one.

Resist the urge. It'll be $50-60 down the drain. The COD/BO series hasn't been good for a very long time. Ghosts was a total POS. I get that SP versions of predominately MP games aren't a priority for the devs, but the MP game was - ironically - a ghost town (on PC) just 2 to 3 weeks after release. I fired it up recently and it sat for 30 minutes without finding a game to join.

I haven't been a console player since PS 2 (I still use it today, {PC games for me). This youtube video did make me think about getting back to the console rat race though. I wonder if the game will live up to the hype. Only time will tell...

You shouldn't need to jump back into said "rat race" as the previous Call of Duty games were released on the PC as well. Now, of course, if you want to play with your friends who only game on a console, then you'll have to buy the associated console (and hopefully your friends are rather unanimous in their choice of console ).

Hey now, Black Ops (first one) had a damn good narrative. That said, compelling narratives in CoD are the exception rather than the rule, but you could say that about most modern shooters these.

I actually thought that Black Ops was the low point of the series. They tried to be "edgy" but it just felt bad and everything was telegraphed. I really disliked the entire game, to be honest.

The single player campaigns in the Modern Warfare series were like watching a campy action movie. Sure, the storytelling was bad, but it didn't try to be good. There were terrorists and explosions, and the story was just the setup for that.

I've never played a CoD game before (just by happenstance, no afflictions one way or another). Not going to lie, the trailer made me want to try this one.

Resist the urge. It'll be $50-60 down the drain. The COD/BO series hasn't been good for a very long time. Ghosts was a total POS. I get that SP versions of predominately MP games aren't a priority for the devs, but the MP game was - ironically - a ghost town (on PC) just 2 to 3 weeks after release. I fired it up recently and it sat for 30 minutes without finding a game to join.

That bad? Yikes. Appreciate the heads up.

Yeah, Ghosts was bad and there are far too many quality FPS games on PC for people to bother.

Also a note to devs: if you're going to do "near-future" settings, use guns that people can recognize. The AK-47/74/100 and M4/16 will still be around in some form in 30 years. Especially if you have guns that look exactly like the AK-47 and M16. It makes combat feel "off".

"In this carefully researched and crafted vision of the future, Private Military Corporations (PMCs) have become the dominant armed forces for countless nations outsourcing their military needs, redrawing borders and rewriting the rules of war."

Upon reading this I was readu to post "so, they played Metal Gear Solid 4?"... but then the article beat me to it!

It's just a variation of late 1980s and early 1990s cyberpunk scifi themes and not even really related to MGS 4. Nothing really new, but of course AAA video games are not known for introducing fresh ideas. Could be a good game still. Or not.

I've never played a CoD game before (just by happenstance, no afflictions one way or another). Not going to lie, the trailer made me want to try this one.

Resist the urge. It'll be $50-60 down the drain. The COD/BO series hasn't been good for a very long time. Ghosts was a total POS. I get that SP versions of predominately MP games aren't a priority for the devs, but the MP game was - ironically - a ghost town (on PC) just 2 to 3 weeks after release. I fired it up recently and it sat for 30 minutes without finding a game to join.

That bad? Yikes. Appreciate the heads up.

Yeah, Ghosts was bad and there are far too many quality FPS games on PC for people to bother.

Also a note to devs: if you're going to do "near-future" settings, use guns that people can recognize. The AK-47/74/100 and M4/16 will still be around in some form in 30 years. Especially if you have guns that look exactly like the AK-47 and M16. It makes combat feel "off".

Just a small correction... the M16 was replaced a long time ago with the M4A1. The M16 is the "grandfather" of the M4A1 and essentially all AR-15 derivatives.

Hey now, Black Ops (first one) had a damn good narrative. That said, compelling narratives in CoD are the exception rather than the rule, but you could say that about most modern shooters these.

I actually thought that Black Ops was the low point of the series. They tried to be "edgy" but it just felt bad and everything was telegraphed. I really disliked the entire game, to be honest.

The single player campaigns in the Modern Warfare series were like watching a campy action movie. Sure, the storytelling was bad, but it didn't try to be good. There were terrorists and explosions, and the story was just the setup for that.

I've heard similar complaints about BO1's story, but I guess my response would be, at least they tried to do something a little different and put effort behind it, unlike a lot of shooters today (and yes, that includes Ghosts, which was weak).

Ok this is the second game article today that touts the use of some movie/TV personality as a selling point for the game.

Note to game companies - I don't give a flying rat's @@# #%%@ what actor/actress you paid way too much money to read off lines in cutscenes I will generally just click through. It's completely orthogonal to gameplay, you know the part of the game that actually matters, and seems like a disturbing throwback to the early CD game days with "FMV" being the big buzzword to make crappy games no one remembers now.

Spend the money on the parts of the game that matter, devs and testers - especially the testing, each bug you don't ship is practically guaranteed to boost your precious metacritic score.

Spoken like someone who never saw George Takei play the megalomaniacal emperor of Japan in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3.

Yeah, Ghosts was bad and there are far too many quality FPS games on PC for people to bother.

Also a note to devs: if you're going to do "near-future" settings, use guns that people can recognize. The AK-47/74/100 and M4/16 will still be around in some form in 30 years. Especially if you have guns that look exactly like the AK-47 and M16. It makes combat feel "off".

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (the first one) had the perfect balance, with a mix of current weapons and a few like the OICW that were prototypes at the time the game was made (unfortunately, the OICW program has since been cancelled, but nobody knew that when GR was released).

How is it that all these companies can make great "near future combat games", but no one can make an even remotely decent Shadowrun game? Private Military Corporations? Exosuits? Seriously... where's my Shadowrun? Someone needs to get on this before I pull out my Ares Predator and start removing some bioware...

I've never played a CoD game before (just by happenstance, no afflictions one way or another). Not going to lie, the trailer made me want to try this one.

Resist the urge. It'll be $50-60 down the drain. The COD/BO series hasn't been good for a very long time. Ghosts was a total POS. I get that SP versions of predominately MP games aren't a priority for the devs, but the MP game was - ironically - a ghost town (on PC) just 2 to 3 weeks after release. I fired it up recently and it sat for 30 minutes without finding a game to join.

That bad? Yikes. Appreciate the heads up.

Yeah, Ghosts was bad and there are far too many quality FPS games on PC for people to bother.

Also a note to devs: if you're going to do "near-future" settings, use guns that people can recognize. The AK-47/74/100 and M4/16 will still be around in some form in 30 years. Especially if you have guns that look exactly like the AK-47 and M16. It makes combat feel "off".

Just a small correction... the M16 was replaced a long time ago with the M4A1. The M16 is the "grandfather" of the M4A1 and essentially all AR-15 derivatives.

EDIT: Just noticed that you did mention M4/16

Only kind-of replaced. The Air Force still uses the M16 as its primary qualifying weapon. I only got to fire an M4 once in my 7 years in the Air Force, and it was like a match made in heaven.

Interested to see what Schofield and Condrey and their team can do with CoD. Big fan of their work at Visceral Games, glad Sledgehammer is on the CoD franchise.

Is it just me, or is there something very meta about a commenter (Plissken) commenting about a game (COD), that's influenced by another game (Metal Gear), who's main protagonist (Snake) was influenced by said commentator's nym??

So the next Call of Duty isn't Treyarch? I loved both Black Ops and Black Ops 2 (multiplayer; I don't care about the campaign though I think BO2 did a good job with the multiple outcomes and strike missions).

BO2's multiplayer was extremely balanced and the unlock system was great. Diamond camo encouraged you to try new things; I got three of them (SMGs, ARs, and shotguns) and also got gold on other weapon classes that I didn't finish, but I never would have even tried without diamond camo.

Ghosts was a piece of trash; I quit playing and moved to Battlefield 4, planning to return when the next Treyarch game came out. I didn't play MW3, so I don't know what to make of Sledgehammer.

It's honestly impressive that not only did they ask to have Kevin Spacey in it but he also agreed. His presence will lend some actual depth to what has traditionally been a thin veneer of storyline or emotion over the gameplay, in CoD titles.